Lee Aberle of the Arabian American All-Stars hits a home run in the first inning against the London Area Little League team. (Peter Jaeger / S&S)
Lee Aberle of the Arabian American All-Stars hits a home run in the first inning against the London Area Little League team. (Peter Jaeger / S&S)
Fans of the Ranstein All Stars cheer for their team in the second semifinal game. (Peter Jaeger / S&S)
A fan of the Belgium team, which played Germany in the second semifinal game, shows her support in written form on her arm. (Peter Jaeger / S&S)
KUTNO, Poland – The Ramstein, Germany, Little League team is one win away from Williamsport.
Ramstein, which trailed 4-1, came back to beat SHAPE and Waterloo, Belgium, 5-4 in the semifinals of the European Regional Tournament’s Trans-Atlantic playoffs.
Colton Rhodes scored the go-ahead run in the top of the sixth inning on a wild pitch, beating the catcher’s throw back to the plate.
In the bottom of the sixth, Belgium’s Cory Chavez tried to score the tying run from third on a wild pitch but was tagged out when Ramstein catcher Jacob Groth threw to pitcher Jeff Curry, who blocked the plate and applied the tag.
Curry struck out Belgium clean-up batter Niels McEvoy to end the game.
Ramstein manager Andre Murray said his team regrouped during a three-hour rain delay.
“We said to them ‘We can only tell you to keep your heads up – it’s up to you to turn on the switch,’” Murray said.
Ramstein will play Arabian-American at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in the championship game. The winner will advance to the Little League World Series to be played Aug. 15-24 in Williamsport, Pa. Arabian-American, which has won eight of the past nine Trans-Atlantic crowns, beat London Area, England 4-0 in Tuesday’s other semifinal.
Arabian-American had won all seven of its preliminary games by a combined 81-7, including a 13-1 victory over London on July 17 and 3-0 over Ramstein on July 19.
Lee Aberle hit a two-run homer in the first inning for Arabian-American and went 3-for-3 with three RBIs. Tommy Timoney went 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored.
“We had guys out there and didn’t capitalize, but [Arabian-American] made great plays,” London coach Allan Gorsett said. “A lesser team might have lost that game, but they’re very solid.
“To Saudi Arabia’s credit, they don’t give you anything. They make good plays in the field and put good pitching out there. They don’t beat themselves — you’ve got to beat them.”
London, which consists mainly of the sons of London-area military and civilian Department of Defense employees, had four base hits and drew four walks but couldn’t score.
In the first, leadoff batter John Mensing got on base when he was hit by a pitch, took second on a passed ball and went to third on a fielder’s choice. But he was stranded when cleanup batter David Robertson grounded out to the pitcher.
In the top of the fourth, with England trailing 2-0, Ryan Quane worked a two-out walk to load the bases. But pinch-hitter Bobby Dykes popped out to Arabian-American catcher Colt Hankamer, who made a diving grab along the third-base line to end the inning.
And in the seventh, Sebastian Belfiore hit a two-out double to right-center field gap but was stranded when Mason Shawver popped out to first for the final out of the game.
